For me, it was seeing Earth, Wind & Fire live as a kid. It was the first band I saw live and it made an impression that never went away again. IMO they're still unparalleled as a live band and I am absolutely sure seeing them changed my life in that it set me on a path to becoming a DJ, mixer and engineer.
I was into music beyond just listening to the radio very early on and I guess being thought music theory and getting a cassette recorder from my mother at the age of 7 kind of helped.
When I discovered Q and Bruce Swedien I started to really pay attention and learn from what he was doing. Never got as good as the man obviously, but he sure is one of my major inspirations and dare I say idols as a sound engineer. I got real interested in Horns (thanks to EWF) and vocals/harmonies (EWF again, Luther Vandross and also Beegees) and drums. Still these are my favourites to work with/on. Today's music could really use a few of these ..
Always been the white kid in a black music scene and proud of it too
But yes, seeing EWF live certainly flipped the switch..
Hearing it basically. From a musical player perspective hearing and seeing some live musicians and my love of music.
Recording it started around age 7 when I had my first recorder and realized a mic was a tiny speaker and a speaker was a really big mic. AKA both were linear motors. Since I dismantled every electronic toy I ever received and recorded everything I could find I got pretty decent at it. Playing came slightly later and have done both ever since.
__________________ Music is what feelings sound like.
Saw Earth Wind & Fire in concert back when concerts were almost a daily occurrence and only 5 - 7 bucks. Awesome show. As I recall, Spirit and Quick Silver Messenger Service also played. EW&F was a great band.
Distorted guitars Journey and foreigner were the first bands i got into. I Loved guitars . I watched mtv just to see videos that has electric guitars in them. I got into playing as a kid and it was def leapord at the time. I was probably 12 then
For me, one day I hung out with a guy who play keys and I found I could understand and play basic chords right away, major, minor and similar. From that point on I was hooked. I think I was about... 22.
I spent the next few years practicing (teaching myself mostly with help from the guy) and leaning covers and building up a little dexterity and played in a few small cover bands. Somewhere along the way I got the recording bug, took some night classes in audio engineering, and my evolution as a keyboard player kinda got stymied.
I still have cassette tapes of songs I wrote on piano that I can't even play anymore.
Keys, as relates to playing keys in a band, is a strange thing. As long as you can play covers and run solos, most non-musician people actually can't even tell the difference.
>All the Big Bands from the 40s and 50s.
>My dad (he was a sax player in the 40s and had his own raido show).
>My cousin Clair (He introduced me to Elvis)
>What was called BeBop back in the 50s (at that time it was like, sort of lewed).
>Ump bum-pa Polka music, there's more to this than most people began to realise.
Numerous guitar players through out the 60s and 70s, R&R, Country and Jazz:
>The Ventures (Who can forget their contribution to guitar)
>Chet Atkins (some of the best finger pickin' guitar sounds ever heard)
>Howard Roberts (Great jazzy bluesy Guitar player, I ablolutely loved this guy, I idolized him)
>Joe Pass (a great jazz guitar player)
There were so many great jazz guitar players, but with my old brain I can't remember them all.
Then there were also the great players, singers and recording bands, R&R, Pop, Reggae that I truely liked and was enlightened with, however, I can't remember them all. I can honestly say I wasn't a big Beatles fan.
I was allways formost a jazz lover and that included Big Band Jazz, Standard Jazz, as well as Jazz Fusion. (Heh heh, I loved Jazz Fusion)
I'm retired now but over the course of my career I had the oportunity to play with nearly all those type bands. Some are
known, most aren't, but nearly all the musicians I played with were for the most part, as good as they get.
My whole career was a great learning exprience until the day I was forced to retire when my left hand went numb. That's
part of getting old. However, I have a lot of great experiences I'm so thankfull for and I kind of feel a little bad for you
youngin's today, you may not have the same opportunities to expand your learning and playing experiences.
But hey, go for it, that's what it took to be a musician even in the 50s, 60, and 70s.
Yeah. I've been a music lover since i was like... 3. My parents would play music non-stop on the weekends, great stuff too, like Brook Benton and Jose Feliciano, really great music.
For whatever reasons it was much later on that it actually occurred to me that maybe I could actually probably also play it. It simply never really crossed my mind. I was too busy with other stuff.
The really different thing about the culture I grew up in is that our parents actually liked a lot of the same music we did as teens. Your mom would be playing some of the same records you'd hear at the high school parties... like The Jackson Five, or Al Green or whatever.
But yeah, the OP, EWF, is a perfect example of that. Everybody from 60 to 15 liked their music.
From the age of 2, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, The Shadows, Harry Belefonte etc. Later, probably listening to Talking Heads and Eno, I realised that music was something that I loved, but that writing music was something I had no clue about. It was a mystery and a challenge, so I decided to give it a go.
Oh my yes. Those guys like Belafonte and Sinatra were literally on a different level. I've never actually even personally met anyone who didn't like their music.
I'm sure they exist, just haven't met them.
Another one was (of course) Nat King Cole. Those guys, one and all, were spectacular singers. The only male singer who came close to that in modern popular music (for just having a really pure and glorious voice) was Luther Vandross. He was an amazing vocal talent.
Though I had a steady diet of Beatles, Stones and Floyd I think the "I gotta do that" bug was caught watching an ELO (Electric Light Orchestra for you young'uns) show during the early days of HBO.
I don't know about then, too much really. Possibly Davey Graham & Ralph Mctell got me going. Hucknell is still at it. Just getting better & better. Very Sinatra-esque. Most of my early heroes are brown bread.
I think I must not fit the mold. Growing up, I didn't have a lot of interest in music. What I liked was art and writing and motorcycle racing. It wasn't until I moved to Austin TX in 1970 to start graduate school that I discovered music -- specifically, performing music.
I bought a guitar for $35 (and worth every penny!) and with the help of musician friends, started the course for the rest of my life. Along the way I got to see Lightnin' Hopkins and Guy Clark and Brownie McGee and so many more live, and I had a day job that allowed me to raise my kids and afford various guitars, basses and amplifiers...and recording software like Reaper.
These days I'm retired and play bass in a small combo that does music from the '30s and '40s (I guess I've never been hip) and we get a great response from our audiences. More than that, I am constantly being musically challenged and that's a big part of life.
One last thought: my most loyal and true friends are those I have played music with.
Life is good.
__________________
"Digo: 'paciencia, y barajar'" -- Don Quijote de la Mancha, Book II, Chapter 23
I an still fascinated by it to this day. 35 years of love and collecting toys.
The way Dub has influenced a multitude of genres over the years has also been fascinating.
I liked music, especially singing.
But the reason, that I picked up the guitar up, was the girls
Once I figured out, I can impress girls with the guitar, I started to practice.
I haven't become a virtuoso, because they don't care about that stuff.
I play with just enough talent to pick up girls
and Jimi Hendrix. [And] ... that I wanted to bring the world more of real art ...
Yes, the real answer for me to the question is same as what I left in the quote above. This music totally blew me away. Starting with The Beatles, but by the time of bands like Led Zep I was gone from the 'establishment' way of making a living FOREVER ...
I listened to anything that was on the radio from when I was barely able to walk, the Beatles to Abba to progressive rock (Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd). Professional interest in music was triggered after I picked up the classical guitar at age 14 or 15 I think (trying to follow in my big brother's steps who had a bass guitar; but all I could afford was a $100 classical guitar). My parents forced me to take lessons, initially against my will, I liked it so much that I started practicing long hours daily and got pretty good in a short amount of time. My then teacher suggested I might actually apply to the conservatory of music, much to the dislike of my parents (they wanted me to properly learn how to play but that was a little overboard). Being who I was and still am I ignored their pleas and went for it anyway, got accepted, and finished conservatory of music in the 5 years I had a scholarship. During that period I figured out I was not quite up there in terms of talent with the big boys and girls, enrolled in law school at the same time (again, against the wishes of my parents so one of my aunts had to sign the paperwork as I was still a minor). That worked out very well and it still pays the bills to this present day. If I had to do it all over again I'm not sure I would have done it differently, no regrets.
What turned you on to music and working with it?
Linear Mode
